IN THE REVIEW

The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

by Akhil Reed Amar

The subtitle of Akhil Amar’s book, “Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era,” describes an interesting problem faced by a Constitution like ours. The Constitution has to be timeless, in the sense of straddling our history past and future, from its original framing in 1787 for as many centuries …

Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law

by David Cole

“The Constitution doesn’t mean what it used to mean”—when that’s our impression, our first impulse is to blame (or praise) activist judges. But the most feverishly activist judge cannot make any changes at all until a case comes before him or her. Judges don’t just wake up and say, “Let’s …

Constitutional Personae

The Lure of Technocracy

by Jürgen Habermas, translated from the German by Ciaran Cronin

Of the many voices raised in Europe against Angela Merkel’s and Wolfgang Schäuble’s handling of the debt crisis in Greece, one of the most strident and uncompromising has been that of the eighty-six-year-old German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. Long regarded as Europe’s leading public intellectual, Habermas denounced the July 12 deal …

Why Nudge? The Politics of Libertarian Paternalism

by Cass R. Sunstein

Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas

by Cass R. Sunstein

Why do people get so angry at Cass Sunstein? Glenn Beck has called him “the most evil man, the most dangerous man in America.” What explains the hostility? Much of it is simple animus against big government, compounded by resentment of academics in office. But there is also a core of genuine worry, and I want to use Sunstein’s writings about nudging to try to bring that worry into focus.

Reflections on Judging

by Richard A. Posner

In ancient times, in the Middle Ages, and in the early Renaissance, people wrote books known as “mirrors of princes.” They would describe the life and character that a princely ruler ought to have, providing a catalog of princely virtues, and setting out tips and recipes for a princely education …